between mulattos and blacks, and once again Boyer’s role remains difficult to pinpoint. With
sugar and coffee plantations difficult to maintain, many large property owners, who were
mulattos, lost interest in agriculture altogether and began to flee the countryside for urban areas.
This meant that the mulattos resided primarily in cities, received the education and societal
benefits enjoyed by the Haitian elite, and participated in government affairs. In The Haitian
People, James Leybrun explains that while Boyer initially attempted to employ an equal number
of blacks and mulattos in his government, this soon became impossible as fewer blacks were able
to read, and literacy was vital to most positions.^62 The majority of Haitian blacks continued to
live in the countryside to pursue some sort of farming, or they served in the army for which
literacy was not a requirement.^63 The absence of a concordat with the Vatican may also have
had a negative effect on education, as Catholic missionaries were not present to set up schools in
Haiti as they did elsewhere in the world at this time; only about 1000 Haitian children were in
school during the 1830s and fewer than 300 people subscribed to periodicals.^64 This would have
made the Haitian elite, and hence the literary community, a small one indeed.
Chief opposition to Boyer’s regime came from mulattos who called for increased powerin the legislature, expanded education, and freedom of speech. Whether in terms of economic
policy or cultural practices (one of Boyer’s ministers was in charge of rooting out African
customs such as voodoo, for example), those who criticized Boyer viewed his government as too
Francophile in its inclinations. They also challenged the president’s powers to set economic
policies, enact treaties, and organize elections, seeing the legislature rather than the chief
(^62) James Leybrun, The Haitian People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966) 79-87.
(^63) In addition to the unpaid soldiers in the National Guard (mandatory for all men of a certain age) were paid soldiers
or career soldiers from various regions. Regional military leaders, however, could draft recruits at will into the paid
army. Michel S. Laguerre, The Military and Society in Haiti (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1993)
23-61.
(^64) These figures are taken from Rotbert’s text, page 74. The numbers referring to education and readership are also
confirmed in L’Union.